Having studied the minds of peak performers (and especially Grand Prix drivers) for much of my life, just sharing some thoughts on what makes them "so special". Enjoy… PS: You can be the "champion" of your own life too!

Submitter’s Note:
Craig is currently “working” on a new manuscript, a “real labour of love” titled ‘INSIDE THE MIND OF A GRAND PRIX CHAMPION’, where we’ll take a look inside the head, the “top two inches” of the very best, the fastest racing driver ever on planet earth.

This short extract forms part of a new manuscript titled ‘Endless Possibilities, Far and Great Horizons’ , which he’s currently writing.
*

INTRODUCTION

“Allow me to let you in to a little secret. All Formula One drivers are pretty much identical. Occasionally you get one — like Ayrton Senna — who’s 0.1 per cent better than the rest, but mostly they all have the same ability. I mean it! “

And Stan’s opinion…
“On the whole I agree with Clarkson – they are all pretty much the same talent wise. However, there are a few who are not only very quick, but are also able to ‘manage’ the car over the length of a race – looking after tyres, not over-stressing the engine and gearbox and so on. Then there are a few who are absolutely rubbish at that – the engine breakers and tyre shredders. So, if you put them all in the same car and asked them to do a quick lap, they’d all be within 0.1 of each other; but over the course of an F1 race the smoother drivers would rise to the top. That’s the thing with Senna – he was not only quick, he was very good at managing the car. You rarely saw him at the ragged edge, he never missed an apex (apart from that once and that wasn’t his fault) and you rarely saw him lock his brakes.

And my opinion (humble):
I think there can be quite some difference between the drivers on the grid, emphasized by the different wide disparities between the performance of the cars, especially today (some current F1 drivers shouldn’t be there). And a minimal margin of only .01% between drivers and the very best like an Ayrton Senna is most under-rated!

“Suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was kind of driving by instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was way over the limit; but still I was able to find even more. It frightened me, because I realised I was well beyond my conscious understanding.” *
– Ayrton Senna

* from ‘FORMULA 1: The Autobiography’
Edited by Gerald Donaldson (and first published in the UK in 2002 by Wedenfeld and Nicolson). Thanks for the great gift, dad.

Senna once said: “I am able to experience God’s presence on earth. God gives me strength and life is a present that God has given to us… and that we are obliged to keep it, to handle it carefully.” Faith needs work, like everything else. It’s about individual self-realisation. Senna’s faith provided him with an armour of self belief.

Ayrton Senna’s relentless search for perfection took him to places where no driver had been before…

“When I am competing against the watch and against other competitors, the feeling of expectation, of getting it done and doing the best I can gives me a kind of power, that some moments when I am driving actually detaches me completely from anything else as I’m doing it…corner after corner, lap after lap. I can give you a true example.

Monte Carlo 1988, the last qualifying session… Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anyone else, including my team mate with the same car. And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension. I was like I was in a tunnel.Not only the tunnel under the hotel, but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit, but still able to find even more.”

‘This sort of thing happens to people at a very high level of mental and physical activity, where the intellect and the body combine and it becomes hard to say who is pulling the strings.’ #

# Sourced from ‘The Death of Ayrton Senna’ by Richard Williams (Publisher Viking, Part of the Penguin Group, first published 1995)

* *

A few final vital words to conclude…

“Look across all sport and observe the truly great. All had this zest for combat, this taste for being truly tested. All wished to explore the limits of their own possibilities.

Time after time we are forced to wonder why one great talent succeeds… and another still greater talent falls short? The reason is not mere “the will to win”. Rather it is the will to be tested at the very highest level. It is the ability to not only dwell on the far edge of sporting possibility, but to hold one’s balance…and to relish the proximity of the void.”
-fine writing from The Times, London

True champions, like an Ayrton Senna, are able to find a new level (of performance) when required, something very special inside themselves. If YOU set your heart on it, you can test, challenge and surpass your own “perceived limits” and YOU too can became a champion!

Reach for the stars and discover the champion of life in YOU through playing your own brand of music on the magical journey of life.

“A champion is not a title, but a set of qualities: Champions aren’t made in the gym. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – an inner flame that burns brightly…with dedication, purpose, desire and passion. True champions LIVE the dream, the vision of who and what they can one day become…. even a long time before it happens.”
– craig

PS:
I see that recently Ayrton Senna was voted the best Grand Prix driver of all time by over 200 past and current drivers in Autosport magazine)

“I’d rather attempt something great and fail, rather than attempting nothing and succeed.”
– Norman Vincent Peale

“Some people see things as they are and say ‘why?’. I see the dreams that never were and say ‘why not?'”
– Bobby Kennedy

“Our talents are our gifts from God…
but what we do with our talents are our gifts TO God.”

About the submitter:
Craig is a motor racing “fanatic” ( a “passionate petrol-head”), who believes in (and loves) helping others to find their passions and gifts… through encouraging people to reach out for, then accomplish their “wildest” dreams. He truly believes people can overcome obstacles, rise to any occasion, and accomplish their dreams, even ‘Endless Possibilities, Far and Great Horizons’ in life with enough FAITH and PERSISTENCE. http://www.craiglockbooks.comwww.webng/writernz and http://www.selfgrowth.com/experts/craig_lock.html

The various books that Craig “felt inspired to write” (including his books on motor racing) are available at:

The greatest mountain we need to climb lies in our our own minds”. It’s not the highest mountain that we conquer, but ourselves, our own mentality. Overcoming perceived limits to reach (attain) the pinnacle of our own minds.”

“Having pursued the goals, the dreams set before us and run the race with persistence and endurance, after giving it all. Then one day standing on the summit of life, breathing in the pure sweet oxygen of achievement, totally satisfied in running the greatest race, the race of life one that ANYONE can run and win.”

“Together, one mind, one life at a time, let’s see how many people we can impact, encourage, empower, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and so become ‘ever more champions of life’.”

“You think you have a limit. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.”

“Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your most intense obsessions mercilessly.”

~ Franz Kafka

PPS

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“You think you have a limit. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.”

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“Look across all sport and observe the truly great. All had this zest for combat, this taste for being truly tested. All wished to explore (and even expand*) the limits of their own possibilities.

* my words

Time after time we are forced to wonder why one great talent succeeds… and another still greater talent falls short? The reason is not mere “the will to win”. Rather it is the will to be tested at the very highest level. It is the ability to not only dwell on the far edge of sporting possibility, but to hold one’s balance…and to relish the proximity of the void.”
-The Times, London

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“You think you have a limit. And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.”

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”

“Together, one mind, one life (one small step at a time), let’s see how many people (and lives) we can encourage, impact, empower, enrich, uplift and perhaps even inspire to reach their fullest potentials…and strive for and perhaps one sunny day even achieve their wildest dreams.”